I hear this said a lot, but is there an example you can think of of a mainstream Japanese whiskey --- a Nikka or Suntory, for instance --- that isn't 100% Japanese spirit? There's Akashi, but the controversy there is that it's not 100% whiskey, not that it isn't 100% Japanese.

I think the trouble lies in the quantity of aged whisky Japan is exporting. They did not have a lot of whisky production 25+ years and so it is simply not possible for them to be bottling this much whisky from 25 year old Japanese casks.

I hate to link to Bloomberg but this article is pretty good:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-19/that-expe...

That was really interesting thanks, did not know that. I like a glass of Yamazaki on the rocks but to me Japanese whiskies have always been a little too smooth and balanced to enjoy neat anyway, compared to a lot of Scotch whiskys which have more character and more rough edges.